Bozeman, Mont. ­ An innovative and cost-effective way to measure environmental factors and provide accurate, user-friendly data for resource management planners and decision-makers is now on the fast track to market. HyPerspectives' president, Ron Cooper, recently announced the incorporation of the new natural resource management consulting firm and the introduction of its novel NASA-developed technology. The new company is located at TechRanch, the technology business incubator in Bozeman's Advanced Technology Park.

The MSU TechLink Center, a technology transfer organization in Bozeman, helped launch the company by facilitating the original remote sensing project between HyPerspectives' parent company and NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi that led to the spinoff of HyPerspectives Remote Environmental Measurement Services Inc. While working on the original NASA project, a team of HyPerspectives' scientists made a major breakthrough in natural resource data collection and interpretation involving the use of high-resolution hyperspectral remote sensing to determine stream and riparian characteristics that were previously obtainable only by ground measurement.

The breakthrough led to a novel approach to measuring environmental characteristics that involves fusing high-resolution hyperspectral remote sensing data with radar and other technologies. "Remote sensing has been around for quite a few years now, but it is finally at the point where it can replace man in making environmental measurements," said Robert Crabtree, Chief Executive Officer for Science and Research Applications and founder of the company. "This disruptive new application of the technology is going to change how we measure and monitor the environment." After interpreting the fused data, HyPerspectives' scientists can provide to planners a complete picture of an entire ecosystem or watershed, from the health of its vegetation to its patterns of runoff. The company's services bypass the need for multiple surveys and data collection services, which can be expensive and time-consuming, and may leave resource managers with an incomplete picture of the study area.

According to Cooper, HyPerspectives' scientists produced results in the original NASA project that were more than 90 percent accurate for riparian characteristics such as stream depth, stream morphology, individual species' vegetative type, turbidity, large woody debris, and a host of other characteristics critical to determining stream health and overall water quality. When compiled into high-resolution topographic information, the results were successfully used to identify floodplains and to assess overall water body function and health in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, where the study took place.

HyPerspectives is the only company that provides full service remote sensing resource management of this type, Cooper said. The company's team of ecologists, planners, GIS specialists, physicists, and software engineers guide projects from concept to full integration into resource management programs. The company works closely with agency officials, citizen groups, ecologists, planners, and remote sensing engineers.

"High-resolution hyperspectral imagery, when fused with other remote sensing tools, will help resource managers to meet their needs for cost-effective, whole watershed measurement of the environment at the ecosystem level," said Cooper. "In addition to stream riparian assessments, HyPerspectives can map fire/fuel threats over large areas, identify and assess wetlands, identify critical endangered species habitat, locate weed infestations, relate watershed nutrient loading to water quality, and assess flood dynamics and other emerging natural resource issues."

The sponsorship of this pioneering research by NASA Stennis Space Center led directly to the start-up of HyPerspectives. Stennis specializes in applications of remote sensing technology for various fields of study, and has sponsored several joint research projects in Yellowstone National Park with HyPerspectives and its research partner, Yellowstone Ecological Research Center.

TechRanch helps entrepreneurs build successful technology ventures by providing access to capital; state of the art facilities; a nationwide network of professional advisors; and, through TechLink, cutting-edge NASA, Department of Defense (DoD), and Montana State University (MSU) technologies.

TechLink is located at MSU in Bozeman and funded by NASA and the DoD to link companies in Montana and the surrounding region with federal laboratories for joint research and technology transfer. Its overriding purpose is to contribute to the success of both technology-based companies and key resource-based industries in the state and region.

CONTACTS:
Ron Cooper
HyPerspectives
(406) 556-9880
roncooper@theglobal.net

John O'Donnell
Director, TechRanch
(406) 556-0272
jodonnell@techranch.org

Will Swearingen
Executive Director, TechLink
(406) 994-7704
wds@montana.edu

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